Fancy New-American Dinner at Nubar

The cliche "You are what you eat" encourages people to eat healthier because, after all, you are what you eat. Food sustains you, food gives you energy, and food brings joy to your life. Thus, I find it completely justifiable to splurge on fine dining every once in a while. Cheap food is something my family cannot tolerate because that is essentially tantamount to putting poison to your body. Well, perhaps not as extreme, but you get the point.

A couple weeks ago (yes, I apologize for not updating sooner. I have been so busy!), I went to a newly remodeled restaurant in Sheraton Commander called Nubar, which serves new American cuisine. According to its website, it emphasizes a comfortable bar and dining experience. The restaurant is named after the hotel’s owner Edward Nubar Guleserian, whose family has owned and operated the hotel and restaurant for three generations.

After we made our selection, the waitress brought a bread basket with three different types of warm, toasted bread.

I really like the olive bread. The savory black olives enhanced the warm, moist, and chewy interior of the bread.

Whereas the olive bread had hint of savoriness, the cranberry bread, which had ample amounts of dried cranberries embedded throughout, was sweet and tangy. Again, the inside of the bread was so warm and chewy. I could honestly get full just on the appetizer bread.

My friend I ordered the Meze Plate ($11) to share.

The appetizer was basically a long grilled flatbread cut into six slices with five different dips placed in between the flatbreads.

Here we have the Herbed Ricotta, Lentil and Bulgur Dip, and Olive Salad. The Herbed Ricotta was a little too thick and rich for my liking. The Lentil and Bulgur dip needed a bit more seasoning.

My favorite was probably the Olive Salad dip! The salty, savory olives balanced out the warm flatbread really nicely.

Here we have the two remaining dips: Eggplant Salsa and Pickled Peppers. I am a huge fan of eggplant (my second favorite vegetable after butternut squash!), so the salsa was inevitably delicious. I expected the pickled peppers to be slightly spicy because I thought it had jalepeno, but it was very mild.

Besides the dips, I also loved the flatbread! It was grilled to perfection with beautiful panini/grill marks on the outside, and just thick enough to have something to chew. Here, the thickness is the key because if it's too thick, the flatbread tastes too doughy, and if it's too thin, you don't get the texture.

The olive salad! We couldn't finish the appetizer because we were too full from the appetizer bread already. Besides, our main entree came as we were eating the appetizer and we didn't want to completely ruin our appetite from being too full.

I was really debating between two menus: Potato Gnocchi or Pat's Littleneck Clam Roast (Toasted angel hair pasta, baby shrimp, garlic, white wine, olive oil). In the end, I chose the Potato Gnocchi ($19) with absolutely no regret whatsoever.

The gnocchi was accompanied by chanterelles, roasted fall vegetables, fresh herbs, and piave cheese. I asked to be light on the cheese, and certainly they just put a little shaved cheese on top that I could easily take out. I wished I had known that they sprinkled pine nuts on top because then I would have asked it to be taken off...

The dish looked very healthy and fresh, probably because of the colorful vegetables and fresh spinach. The gnocchi served in the dining hall is often DRENCHED in oil, but that was not the case for this entree!

I am not quite sure the crispy greens on top, but it was so savory! I wonder if it had been fried, which would explain its crispiness.

The potato gnocchi was so good! I loved that it was pan-fried on the outside for the right amount of crispiness without being too rough on the edges. I don't like gnocchis that are mushy all throughout, so this was perfect!

I almost felt like I was eating salad because of the greens and the roasted vegetables. I love root vegetables (squash, sweet potato, turnips, etc.) and the dish sure wasn't stingy on providing that! The grilled mini onions were roasted to golden perfection.

The gnocchi overdose! I couldn't finish the dish, but it tasted almost as good the day after :)

My friend was choosing between the Duck Breast and the Grilled Organic Salmon (Lentils, Horseradish and Glazed Root Vegetables), and the waitress, without hesitance, recommended the Duck Breast ($27)

The slices of duck breast was roasted with Caramelized Heirloom Apples, and served with Red Cabbage and Confit Potatoes.

I would have never guessed something as savory and juicy as duck breast would go with sweet caramelized heirloom apples!

Hmm not a fan of fingerling potatoes, especially when cooked confit (basically cooked in fat).

The visual presentation of the dish could be improved because the sauce at the bottom looked a bit messy.

The duck breast was so juicy and tender, according to my friend. Unfortunately, I don't eat duck because it's usually too fatty (just like pork).

I especially loved the red cabbage, which, like the caramelized apple, tasted sweet. It almost had the texture and the sweetness of cranberry sauce.

Now that I think back, the dish reminded me of a Thanksgiving meal! The duck is like the turkey, the red cabbage & apple is like the cranberry, and the potato is like mashed potato/stuffing!

Devoured. Yum :)

All-American Brunch at Colby's in New Hampshire

On our way to the downtown area during our spontaneous trip to New Hampshire last Sunday, we asked the taxi driver to recommend what we should do in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

"Well, there isn't much to do around here," he said, "except eat and drink!" Well, that sounded just perfect. He named some restaurants that he liked, one of which was Colby's, which specializes in breakfast/brunch. While walking around the town, we ran into Colby's so we decided to try it out.

Will ordered hot chocolate, which came with generous amount of whipped cream on top.

If I wasn't allergic to chocolate, I would have loved this. It looked very rich.

I had The Down East Special ($7.99), consisting of two eggs any style, choice of pancakes or French toast, home fries, and choice of bacon, ham, sausage, veggie bacon, or veggie sausage. As you can see from my plate, I got two poached eggs, veggie sausage, and homemade cinnamon swirl French Toast for $1 extra.

The French toast was sprinkled with powdered sugar. I skipped the butter.

The French Toast was sort of hard to cut into. Unlike the ones I had in Korea, it was much harder and not as moist. It almost tasted fried or at least pressed really hardly on the pan. I poured a generous amount of maple syrup to make it more moist.

The taste of the cinnamon was so strong that I couldn't taste the egg on the outside. When I poured the maple syrup over the french toast, the powdered sugar melted and coated right onto the toast to add more sweetness. The French Toast was huge and very heavy because it was lathered with butter before covering it with eggs.

The veggie sausage tasted just like regular sausage...I really hope it was vegetarian!

The sausage was made with soy. It was crispy on the outside. I ate it with the poached eggs because it was too salty by itself.

The very bland-looking poached eggs. The egg yolk was cooked too much because I usually like it slightly watery.

Ash ordered two servings of blueberry & white chocolate pancakes ($5.99), also sprinkled with powdered sugar and a dollop of butter.

This pancake must have been the special of the day because it was written on a chalkboard rather than on the actual menu.

The little piece of pancake I had was quite delicious! It was fluffy and sweet. Don't tell my aunt, but it tasted better than her pancake at her restaurant in Berkeley ;)

Will ordered the same menu as I did, except with regular French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon. The regular french toast was much thinner and smaller. I probably should have ordered that (and probably couldn't have finished it either).

In addition to the pancake, Ash had the Wester Omelets ($7.99) with ham, bell pepper, Spanish onion, and cheddar jack. The omelet came with a side of home fries and a choice of toast.

Tyler ordered the same thing as me and Will (probably the most popular deal!) with pancakes, over easy eggs, and bacon.

Although my mouth was happy while eating the breakfast, my stomach hurt a lot after probably because the restaurant used ton of butter and oil in its food...the French toast was covered in butter even without the added butter on top and the home fries, when I first took a bite of it, all I could taste was the margerine. Too heavy for my stomach to handle! :(

Judging from how packed the restaurant was, Colby's probably well-known in the area. But for me, I don't think I can handle heavy, American breakfast food.

Loading on Carb in Adams House

A lot of times, I find myself noshing on carb in the dining hall because protein entrees are either too dry or too fatty. I tackled the salad bar last night with three different types of mixed grain salad, romaine lettuce, and green beans.

The nutritionist would be disappointed if this was all I had so I put a heaping bowl of cottage cheese as well as some fettucini in white wine clam sauce. The dining hall worker accidentally brought the fettucini without the sauce, so when we asked, "Why is there just noodle?" he said, "Oops, I forgot the sauce!" haha. The pasta must have been cooked just before because it was hot and not dry. I wished there had been more bits of clams. I drizzled some hot sauce for extra spices because it was a little bit on the bland side.

I loved the chunks of squash, sweet potato, and other cubes of vegetables in the quinoa. I am not quite sure what sauce it was tossed in, but it wasn't too rich--just the way I like it.

My roommate had a complete kid's meal, plus a little bit of vegetables. She sure was excited about the french fries. Personally, I have never liked french fries even when I was little. If anything, I prefer sweet potato frieds, but I don't really liked fried starch in general.

Pizza and hoagies. Everyone's dream kid's meal, but as a slightly lactose-intolerant person, I can't really enjoy pizza without feeling bloated afterwards.

One of my other friends complained about the lack of good entree, so he ordered a grilled cheese from the grill. He added eggs inside as well. The last time I had grilled cheese (again, not very often since I don't eat cheese), the bread was smothered in butter so it was way too greasy.

A big bite of the grilled cheese and egg. I love the crispy surface of the grilled bread. The pasta in the background, by the way, looks exceedingly dry. That's the thing about HUDS: it's so unpredictably inconsistent!